Baba Ramdev being a yoga guru transformed a underdog company to the largest self owned FMCG brand of India. No corporate leader could have ever imagined that a person from a village of Haryana can shatter their monopoly in one of the largest market of world.
2. Introduction
► Son of Ram Nivas Yadav & Gulaboo Devi, born in a
Alipur village of Haryana
► Joined Arya Gurukul, Khanpur from where he studied
Sanskrit and Yoga
► Holds a post graduate degree with specialization in
Sanskrit Vyakaran, Yoga, Darsanas, Vedas and
Upanishads.
► Founded Divya Yog Madir Trust in 1995
► Patanjali Ayurveda Kendra Pvt. Ltd. was founded on
27 September 2007 by Baba Ramdev & Shree
Balkrishna
Source: Dev Kumar. (2015). Marketing Strategies by Baba Ramdev. Available:
https://www.slideshare.net/kumardevk/marketing-stretegies-by-baba-ramdev. Last accessed 17th Feb 2018.
3. A True Visionary
► Its Baba Ramdev’s path breaking vision that turned
Patanjali Ayurveda into a 10,561 crores giant slayer of
FMCG sector.
► He very well sighted that the society is heading
towards HEALTH ERA, people will spent more on
health and fitness.
► Predicted the consumer shift to Ayurvedic products in
the country.
► Pathanjali is the fastest growing FMCG Company
with turnovers jumping from 2000 crores in 2015 to
5000 crores in 2016. A turnover of 20000 crores is
already predicted not too far into the future!
4. Innovator
► Baba Ramdev revolutionised the ancient yoga and
added innovations to Ayurveda to win hearts of
people.
► Innovative Ideologies to build a breakthrough
Patanjali Brand.
► Innovated brand new product distribution strategies
gaining direct profit margin over competitors.
Source: Gaurav Sood. (2016). Patanjali — Using Innovative Ideologies to Build a Breakthrough
Brand. Available: http://brandmartini.com/2016/02/20/patanjali-using-innovative-ideologies-to-build-a-
breakthrough-brand-2/. Last accessed 17th Feb 2018.
5. Expert at Handling Human
Relations
► Over years, Ramdev has built a reputation and trust
by yoga training and other social services.
► Baba Ramdev meet a lot of people including PM
Narendra Modi. He directly spoke to people, which
increased his credibility.
► Yoga Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali has leaped from 173
rank to the 15 position in the latest Brand Trust Report
2017.
Source: Mohit Bansal. (2016). Secret behind huge success of Baba Ramdev. Available:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-secret-behind-the-huge-success-of-Ramdev-Babas-Patanjali-products-I-want-
to-know-how-he-is-producing-so-many-types-of-products-by-himself-Do-all-these-products-really. Last accessed
17th Feb 2018.
6. Strategist
► He himself is the face of Patanjali, a trusted brand
ambassador.
► Work on something which you have enough knowledge
about and practice
► A Perfect Plan: When there was a controversy related
to Maggie, Ramdev Baba launched instant noodle on
November 15, 2015.
► Swadeshi is my birth right and yours too.
► A flat management structure enables rapid decision-
making that allows the business to be extremely flexible
and aggressive.
Source: Vedika Jain. (2016). 9 business management principles of Baba Ramdev. Available:
https://yourstory.com/2016/06/9-business-management-principles-baba-ramdev/. Last accessed 17th Feb 2018.
7. Risk Taker
► Ramdev wants to open other battle fronts. To
challenge restaurant chains such as McDonald’s, KFC
and Subway, Patanjali plans to enter the fast food
segment.
► Despite various allegations and controversies he
believes in “Any free publicity is good publicity” and
continued his mission.
► Patanjali is also planning to enter the apparel
business with jeans and sportswear and compete with
firms like Levi’s, Nike and Adidas.
Source: University of Pennsylvania. (2017). How a Yoga Guru Is Mastering the Consumer Goods Market in
India. Available: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/yoga-guru-mastering-consumer-goods-market-india/.
Last accessed 18th Feb 2018.
8. Lessons Baba Ramdev taught
Corporate Leaders
► Lesson 1: Trend Spotting is not done by research
► Lesson 2: Ayurveda is not just a product, its an entire
eco-system
► Lesson 3: Launch your own stories
► Lesson 4: Capitalise on social and cultural trend
► Lesson 5: Know your enemy
Source: Prabhakar Mundkur. (2017). What Baba Ramdev taught
MNCs. Available: http://www.adageindia.in/blogs-
columnists/viewpoint/what-baba-ramdev-taught-
mncs/articleshow/59971484.cms. Last accessed 17th Feb 2018.
1. The most influential ideas on branding are shaped by the worldview of MBA’s and Ad Guru’s – build a better mousetrap and the world will take notice. Most brand strategies today pursue mindshare marketing.
2. Contrary to popular belief, Ramdev has moved Patanjali brand from Red Ocean to a Blue Ocean, what 15 years ago C K Prahalad offered a pioneering call to arms: to “create the markets for tomorrow”.
3. Patanjali is disrupting the FMCG Category having a 20-25 per cent cost advantage due to savings in distribution. That gives the company the leverage to price its products at least 15-30 per cent cheaper than its counterparts. Patanjali has expanded its portfolio to over 400 stock-keeping units (SKUs).
The customer’s trust is a result of around 20 years of relentless work around Yoga and Ayurveda by Ramdev. In those 20 years Ramdev has built a extremely loyal community of followers.
Baba Ramdev focussed more on the quality rather than quantity. Building a brand is not an easy task, but you can do well by following Ramdev Baba’s mantra of pleasing his audience himself.
Baba Ramdev has enough knowledge about Ayurveda and this is the main reason behind the success of the brand.
You should launch your product as per the demand of the consumers in the market.
Patanjali advertisements talk of “rescuing India from economic slavery and loot of foreign companies” and appeal for “boycott” of foreign firms.
Research has rarely predicted the future shape of markets or how innovations will become popular in the future. A visionary like Baba Ramdev, to take a bold step forward and scale up an ayurvedic fmcg business.
If MNCs think that by launching Ayurvedic variants of an essentially Western sounding brand, they might be well be mistaken. Patanjali is not just a range of Ayurvedic products. It is an entire ecosystem. The success of Patanjali goes back to the yoga camps which he has been holding over the years for thousands of people and his televised shows on yoga.
With over 12,000 stores currently, this figure does not cover Patanjali's own stores therefore underestimating their retail off-take and market share.
